Demand units are the new currency of B2B marketers. First it was about awareness, then about relevance. From relevance came personalisation and quality over quantity. As we headed towards a world where B2B marketers struggled to remain relevant, ABM came to the rescue. Simultaneously addressing awareness, relevance and personalisation, ABM reflected the sales and marketing funnel. The trouble with all great ideas is that things change. Where once ABM was lauded as the holy grail of increased deal sizes and higher conversion, it failed to keep pace. Growing corporate complexity, longer purchasing cycles and a rising number of decision-makers made ABM a highly technical field. So, read on as we discuss targeting demand units and why ABM finally reflects B2B prospects.
Demand units
For over a decade, B2B marketers have focused on getting inquiries into the top of the marketing funnel. With the right approach, content and measurement, inquiries could be qualified and passed on to sales with a higher chance of conversion. In summary, marketing became focused on inquiries and MQLs, regardless of the level of complexity involved. Some inquiries might come from a senior manager or mid-level executive, others from procurement teams or customer-facing staff. The inquiry might be very specific, relating to a specific need today, or highly complex. Put simply, each inquiry may be at a different stage in the purchasing cycle or represent only part of the organisation.
Enter demand units (DU), which are buying groups tasked with fulfilling organisational needs. As the sophistication of go-to-market planning has increased, we know more about potential buyers than ever before. In some cases, we can imply if they are in the market for a solution that we sell. Armed with this knowledge, our target market becomes prospective demand units. Rather than focusing on accounts, the DU is really what marketers and sales are interested in i.e. the buying ‘groups’ with needs to match our solution(s).
Targeting demand units rather than tracking opportunities
Opportunity-based marketing (OBM) looked at the multiple opportunities within a target account. Since multiple opportunities may relate to the same buying group(s), there was possibility for overlap. In many cases, CRM and automation did not achieve the level of granularity required to accurately nurture each opportunity. Since an account may have multiple demand units, sales and marketing teams need an organisational map of demand. This helps sales and marketing to pinpoint their efforts to create demand and identify specific purchasing decisions. Each DU represents the purchasing cycle that we need to understand.
Whether we look at accounts, opportunities or demand units, marketers must continue to track inquiries. The key difference with demand units is identifying and attaching those inquiries to the demand units we are most interested in. This is a level of sophistication that today’s one-to-many ABM fails to grasp. The creation of content and organising of events for decision-makers may not ‘speak’ to the demand unit itself. Even worse, generic content targeted at an industry sector does not speak to our organisational needs and our buyers. Those who can activate, engage and qualify a demand unit inquiry have a greater chance of conversion and can direct resources accordingly.
The trouble with ABM
ABM is arguably the single most potent weapon in the B2B marketer’s arsenal. It takes us away from brand awareness and a battle for reach to a focused, personalised approach with sales. Hopefully, this is one-to-one ABM and the buying group feels as though we are addressing their needs. Where it is not one-to-one, it is probably closer to a campaign in the traditional sense than you would care to admit. B2B marketing campaigns are fraught with challenges in this century, from the need to create ROI to sniping from sales. Ultimately, the real challenge has been for marketing to find a place in B2B, which it has most notably achieved in software sales. Greater complexity and the potential to create new solutions makes SaaS especially suitable for ABM. There is a need for education and a wide range of possible solutions to a particular need.
Additionally, until very recently, ABM was losing some of its sheen. The lengthening purchasing cycles and ever-increasing number of decision-makers makes for great frustration. Sales want a quick win. Marketing wants a linear campaign that leads to pipeline and closed won. However, not all opportunities are linear or even timely, requiring a customised approach. For example, sending content and organising events to nurture an account that is 2 years away from contract renewal is likely to fall on deaf ears. Similarly, if we know that it is 2 years away and we start raising awareness for another solution, we risk appearing not joined up. The demand unit may sound alien but it simply reflects the buying process and greater involvement of stakeholders we see today.
Helping you target demand units
As a management consultancy, we offer expertise across business, management, finance and marketing. With in-depth experience of B2B marketing and sales organisations, we have deployed and transformed organisations with account-based marketing. For those who already have ABM up and running, perhaps it needs some fine-tuning or a performance enhancement to lead the field. Our change services include lead gen advisory and transformation of your marketing and sales funnel and marketing operations. So, what are you waiting for?
If you would like support targeting demand units, why not reach out and ask for an intro? Alternatively, send us a message via email or request a call-back when it suits you.
Finally, why not read a related article to see why it isn’t all about new business. We also have a short guide to generating inquiries in B2B.